Bloggers' Quilt Festival :: Hopscotch

Nothing like a last-minute finish for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival! I've planned for a while now to enter my Hopscotch quilt, and the festival was well under way as I put the last stitch in her binding. But {whew!} here she is!

I made Hopscotch as a gift for a friend, and admittedly, the palette is not a natural for me. Using Camille Roskelley's pattern, I knew in addition to a variety of colored prints, I'd need a neutral and a contrast fabric for the triangle points. The white was an obvious choice as the neutral, but I wavered a bit (bright lime or teal?) before settling on Kona medium gray. I wasn't piecing long before I was confident of my choice.

As far as triangle quilts go, this was a first for me. Veering off the pattern a bit, I chose not to use templates, but cut my own "jelly roll" strips, and then used just rulers - including a 60-degree triangle - to cut the pieces to size. This method worked fine for me, and I got the hang of the piecing fairly quickly. Pressing seams open is really important with this block, and not trimming the 'ears', as they really help in matching things up.

Piecing the blocks together, Hopscotch really started coming to life. I got the top done on a rare sunny day and loved the stained glass effect I was able to catch.

Oh, and it was also windy . . .

The backing I chose was Domestic Bliss by Liz Scott for Moda, which I liked as it really highlighted the gray  used in the blocks (and soon to be binding), but also repeated the 'diamond' motif.

Due to the unique design of this quilt, I decided to have my long-arm quilter, Darlene Girton of Girton Creations use her gift and she suggested this triangle-in-a-triangle design. 

Oh, was it a great choice.

And Hopscotch got finished just in the nick of time - a new palette, a new block shape, lessons learned, and good quilty fun.

Linking up with the Bloggers' Quilt Festival, Fabric Tuesday, and Summer Sewing Contest.


This project was on my original post for 2nd quarter, so I am linking up with Quilter in The Gap's 2nd Quarter Finish-A-Long linky party!